


MANUAL LABOUR SCHOOL 



ADDRESS 



SUBJECT OF A MANUAL LABOUR SCHOOL 



JOHN H. B. LATROBE, Esq, 



ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE, 



BALTIMORE: 
PRINTED BY JOHN D. TOY 
Comer of Market and St. Paul streets. 

1840, 



■83 L$ 



On the 16th December, 1839, a meeting of gentlemen desirous to 
establish, if possible, a manual labour school in the vicinity of Baltimore, 
was held in the first Baptist Church, at the corner of Sharp and Lombard 
streets. 

On motion of Mr. George W. Norris, Dr. Dunbar was called to the 
chair, and John L. Carey Esq. appointed secretary. 

Mr. Whiston, superintendent of the Boston Farm School was present, 
and at the request of the meeting made a full and very interesting state- 
ment in regard to the establishment, history and results of the institution 
under his charge. The meeting was also addressed by C. Gilman, Esq. 
when, on motion of Dr. Thomas E. Bond, Jr. a committee was appointed 
to take the subject into consideration, with instructions to call a meeting 
of the citizens, whenever they were prepared to report, and generally to 
pursue such course as they might deem best calculated to bring the mat- 
ter fairly and favourably before the public. 

The following named gentlemen constituted the committee : 
George W. Norris, John L. Carey, 

Samuel G. Wyman, F. A. Levering, 

William H. Beatty, John Kettlewell, 

Thomas E. Bond, Jr. J. R. W. Dunbar, 

George S. Norris, H. Magruder, 

Charles Gilman, J. T. Handy. 

William P. Stewart, 
The meeting then adjourned. John L. Carey, Setfry. 



Baltimore, March 17th, 1840. 
At a public meeting convened in the Methodist Protestant Church, in 
Liberty street, for the purpose of considering the propriety, and devising 
the means of establishing a manual labour school, also to hear a report 
on the subject, from a committee of thirteen gentlemen appointed for this 
purpose in December last, at a meeting held in the Baptist Church, in 
Sharp street; Judge Magruder was called to the chair, Joseph King, Jr. 
Richard Norris, William Crane, Samuel D. Walker, William F. Mur- 
doch, J. Harman Brown, and George Stonebraker, Esqs. were appointed 
vice-presidents, and Richard Lemmon secretary. After prayer by the 
Rev. Mr. Lipscomb, and the proceedings of the meeting held in the Bap- 
tist Church having been read, Charles Gilman, Esq. presented and read 
the report of the thirteen gentlemen appointed at that meeting ; which, 
upon motion of George W. Norris, Esq. seconded by John H. B. Latrobe, 
Esq.* and was unanimously adopted, together with the following resolu- 
tions, reported by the committee of thirteen. 

* In seconding this resolution Mr. Latrobe delivered the address which follows,, 
and which, at the request of a committee appointed to procure its publications 
he furnished for the purpose. 



IV 

Resolved, That it is expedient to establish in the neighbourhood of 
Baltimore, a manual labour school for indigent boys ; that the public 
good requires it, and that philanthropy and the improvements of the age 
demand it. 

Resolved, That in aid of this meritorious cause, cards be distributed 
amongst this audience for donations and subscriptions, and also, that a 
committee of six from each ward in this city be appointed by the presi- 
dent, respectfully to solicit from the citizens such aid as they may think 
proper to afford to the contemplated institution. 

On motion it was Resolved, That the appointments devolved by the last 
resolution on the president, be made at his future leisure. 

After which the meeting adjourned. 

Richard Lemmon, Sec'ry. 



Dear Sir: Baltimore, March 19th, 1S40. 

At a meeting of those favourable to the establishment of a manual 
labour school for indigent boys, held on Tuesday evening last, after the 
delivery of your address it was unanimously 'Resolved, That a committee 
be appointed to return the thanks of the meeting to John H. B. Latrobe., 
Esq. for his truly excellent and eloquent address, and to request that a 
copy be placed in the hands of the committee for publication.' 

The undersigned were appointed a committee to carry out the above 
resolution. We, therefore, as the representatives of the meeting, respect- 
fully request that you will permit the publication of the address which we 
feel assured cannot fail to excite a deep interest in the community in 
reference to one of the most important efforts that has been made in the 
cause of humanity in this city for years. 

We are, sir, with great respect, your obedient servants, 

John R. W. Dunbar, 
Thos. E. Bond, Jr. 

To John H. B. Latrobe, Esa. Wm. P. Stewart. 



Gentlemen : Baltimore, March 20th, 1840. 

Enclosed is the address delivered by me on Tuesday last, a copy of 
which you have requested for publication. Begging you to accept my 
acknowledgments for the kind terms in which you are pleased to speak 
of it. I have the honour to be, yours, very respectfully, 

John H. B. Latrobe. 
To Messrs. J. R. W. Dunbar, 
Thos. E. Bond, Jr. 
Wm. P. Stewart. 



ADDRESS 



Mr. Chairman: 

I appear before you this evening as the advocate of a manual 
labour school for indigent boys, which it is proposed to establish in 
the vicinity of Baltimore. 

The name alone would sufficiently explain the object of the insti- 
tution, which, however, is most clearly and satisfactorily stated in 
the report that we have just heard read ; and in the remarks that I 
have to make little more will be necessary than to comment upon 
and enforce the principles and views that the report suggests. 

The manual labour school then, may be denned to be an institu- 
tion for the education of those boys, belonging to the city, whose 
extraordinary exposure to moral evil requires peculiar provision to 
be made for forming their character, and promoting and securing 
the happiness of their lives; which is proposed to be effected by 
separating them from vicious associations, placing them under the 
care of proper instructors, and employing them in labour, as their 
strength and years permit, not only for the purpose of teaching them 
to obtain their future livelihood, but also as a means of making 
them contribute to their own present support. 

The class of boys for whom the manual labour school is intended 
is a numerous one, and forms a distinct portion of the population of 
all large communities. It has its peculiar and strongly marked 
characteristics, the most prominent of which is recklessness. It ranks 
among its members the half-grown, half-fed, half-clothed, hard-worked 
children of the very indigent, as well as the apparently purposeless 
idlers, who seek in winter the most sheltered spots, to bask where 
the sun shines warmest, and who lounge through the long days of 
summer about the suburbs, where the trees spread the coolest sha- 
dows. It is a class which has its oracles and its leaders, who want 



not for energy or talent, and who exhibit their first promise of future 
power for good or evil, in directing and controlling with despotic 
authority the pranks and mischief of their boyish associates. Accus- 
tomed, as this class is from infancy, to all the shifts of poverty, made 
useful as soon as they can walk, their intellects become sharpened to 
a degree unnatural to their years, and they learn to comprehend the 
business and the feelings of men, before they have passed the first 
periods of childhood. Unfortunately too, the knowledge thus ac- 
quired is imbibed in a foul and unwholesome moral atmosphere, 
and it is with the vices, not the virtues of more advanced years, 
that the class of children, of which I am speaking, become thus 
prematurely familiar. The master spirits of this class, whose will 
sways the less resolute and gives its laws to the young community, 
are easily distinguished. If you watch them you will seldom find 
them engaged in games of mere amusement. Tops and marbles 
they sometimes patronize when the play is not, in boyish dialect, 
'for fun,' but 'for good;' because the winnings may be disposed of 
for the money, whose value and whose uses they are already well 
acquainted with: but hoops and kites, hide-and-seek, and bandy, 
they generally eschew, for these require exertion, and they are 
profitless. Their favourite amusements are pitch-and-toss, and the 
penny sweat-cloth, and the low gambling which is to be found in 
the precincts of the race-course, and in the yards of tipplirig-houses. 
They aim much at what they esteem a knowing carriage ; and we 
have often seen a fine, bright-eyed, intelligent little fellow belong- 
ing to this class, with his cap set jauntily on one side of his head, 
his arms akimbo, his hands in his pockets, his feet apart, and, with 
a cigar in his mouth, bandying oaths and obscene jests with full- 
grown men, as though their equal in years and vice. If a quarrel 
takes place among their young associates, they form the ring, they 
place the chip on the shoulder, they encourage the timid combatant, 
and act as arbiters of the battle. If there is a tumult of any kind in 
the street, they swarm like bees around the spot, coming from we 
know not where, as though some bond of union existed among them, 
which vibrated throughout the Ishmaelite fraternity to all sounds of 
violence and misrule. If a fire takes place, there is always one 
or more of them certain to be in the vicinity ; and their wild and 
elfish shrieks are echoed by the whole tribe throughout the streets 
until the entire city is alarmed. They seize the ropes of the engines, 
they crowd around the flames, they dare danger with the boldness of 
older spirits, and when the fire is extinguished they are to be seen 
prowling among the blackened ruins, turning over the smouldering 



fragments of beams and rafters and seeking among them for the 
spoils that the conflagration may have spared. They jostle and 
fight, too, for their plunder, like the foul birds whose feasts are 
made of the leavings of decay and death. And when the demon 
spirit of the mob is roused, these boys form the nucleus upon 
which gather all the malignant elements of incendiary violence ; 
theirs is the loudest shout; their hands are the first to hurl the 
missile and apply the firebrand; and nameless and irresponsible, 
but numerous and bold, they often succeed in giving to the sugges- 
tions of a few discontented spirits the character of a general out- 
break, which, though subversive of the laws, is made by the means 
I have described to appear to have the sanction of the people. 

As already remarked this class wants not for talent and energy : 
and there is a certain rude code of honour and half formed feeling of 
justice, which are (o be found in it. The individuals of which it is 
composed are born with the same aptitude for what is good and great 
that is enjoyed by the children of richer parents ; and it is only by 
degrees that their disposition becomes perverted and the better senti- 
ments of their nature are overcome. It is to employ this talent use- 
fully, to direct this energy aright, to give their full development to all 
good and honourable impulses, that the manual labour school has been 
devised. It is for the class, Mr. Chairman, that I have been describ- 
ing, that our sympathies are now invoked. It is to diminish its num- 
bers, if not to change its destiny, that our aid is now solicited. When 
the unceasing current of the Mississippi threatens to undermine a 
portion of the forest-covered bank, throwing thereby into the stream 
the trees, whose roots, taking fast hold of the bottom, convert the 
trunk, shorn of its branches, into the snag and sawyer, the watcher 
of the waters removes in time from the edge of the river the ash 
and the cotton wood, so that the shore, when it falls, adds little to 
the current, save some harmless alluvion to be borne to the distant 
gulf. In like manner would the institution I advocate anticipate the 
action of the restless stream of human existence, removing those 
whom circumstances have especially subjected to its undermining 
influences ; and, while saving them from moral destruction, prevent, 
at the same time, their becoming the means of destroying others 
who float unsuspectingly upon the waters. 

My object, Mr. Chairman, is to create an interest, if possible, in 
behalf of the class of persons I have been describing. I have already 
attempted to sketch the appearance of one of them as the representa- 
tive of the whole. Let us now follow this individual a little further. 
We take him up the leader of a few youthful adherents, of less active 



8 

and commanding temper. Thus far he has committed no crime 
against the law. He has been foolish, reckless and inconsiderate: 
but he is, as yet, in peace with society. But, with thoughts and feel- 
ings in advance of his years, he almost necessarily seeks the associa- 
tion of men, and from being the hero of a street corner, and the leader 
of a gang of mischievous boys, he becomes the listener to tales of 
desperate daring and hair-breadth escapes ; and, after a while, from 
being a listener to deeds of violence, we find him a participator in 
their execution. At this time his entire appearance changes. He 
avoids the broad day-light. His brow becomes habitually contracted, 
and his cap is pulled over it, as though to conceal the alteration ; the 
expression of his features changes ; he shuns the gaze of those with 
whom he is conversing, and his eye is at all times watchful, restless 
and uneasy: he no longer laughs aloud with the frank merry voice of 
childhood ; his smiles have become sneers ; his whole person has a 
haggard look, and the characteristic of recklessness, to which I have 
adverted, is changed into the most absorbing selfishness. Beginning 
with petty offences and escaping detection, impunity makes him 
bold, and the successful pilferer bids fair to become the unflinching 
house-breaker. The result, sooner or later, is the same : he is ar- 
rested for the commission of some offence, petty, perhaps, in itself, 
but nevertheless punishable by the laws ; and after a confinement in 
the common gaol, in contact with depraved felons, he is placed at 
the bar and arraigned before a court of justice. Every eye is turned 
towards him. The voice of the clerk is heard to pronounce his 
name and describe his offence, with all the accuracy of technical 
form, so distinctly that no one can mistake the identity or the charge. 
The identity is fixed in many a memory; and the insignificance and 
exemption from observation that poverty and want had before pro- 
cured for him are lost forever. Thenceforward the mark of the 
brand is upon his brow ; and the probability is that his future life 
will exhibit a career of sin varied only by the periods of imprison- 
ment. 

It is stated in a report to the senate of New York, made in 182fi, 
'that one person, who was confined in the prison at Auburn, was first 
committed when he was only ten years old, and had since at diffe- 
rent times been twenty-eight years a convict, at an expense to the 
state of not less than two thousand dollars.' 

Here then is an apt illustration of what is but too frequently the 
career of the class that I have been describing; and instead of sup- 
posing the progress in crime of an imaginary individual, I might 
have referred at once to the prisoner at Auburn as a living example 



9 

fully answering my purpose. Who was he ? The book from which 
1 quote mentions not his name. What was his origin — what his ulti- 
mate fate ? We are informed of neither. And yet curiosity would 
fain penetrate the obscurity of his history, and learn the details of 
the existence of one who was in prison when ten years old, and was 
twenty-eight years a prisoner. Perhaps he had been an orphan, de- 
pendent upon the scanty charity of relations to whom poverty made 
him a heavy burden. Perhaps he had been the child of a widow, 
whose hard and ill-requited toil, when exerted to the utmost limit of 
physical endurance, barely afforded the food to support life, and left 
no time, yielded no means, for the care and education of her son. 
Perhaps, with both his parents living, the profligacy and intemperance 
of the father, while it deprived his family of his proper care, exposed 
his offspring from their very cradle to the contaminating influence 
of vicious example : or perhaps mere carelessness and indifference 
on the part of his natural protectors left the child of ten years old 
to pursue unrestrained that course of vagrancy which had made the 
penitentiary his familiar home. But whatever his origin, whatever 
the immediate causes of his first commitment, one thing is almost 
certain, that he must originally have been the victim of circum- 
stances over which, at his tender age, he could have had no control; 
and that it was his misfortune, rather than his fault, which, at ten 
years old, turned him into the path that he subsequently pursued to 
so melancholy a purpose. 

This case, it is believed, is but one among hundreds occurring 
annually throughout our country, though it is to be hoped not to 
the same extent. In a report of the house of refuge for juvenile 
delinquents, in New York, published in 18*29, it is stated, that three 
hundred and thirty-seven boys had been committed in one year for 
offences against the laws ; and that the whole number who had been 
in the institution, in four years, had been four hundred and fifty- 
three : and in the report of the Prison Discipline Society for 1827, 
it is stated that there were, in five different prisons, three hundred 
boys confined in contact with felons of every grade, receiving from 
them an education in crime fitting them in all respects to run the 
career, and with the same results, of the prisoner at Auburn. In the 
house of refuge, in Boston, there were one hundred and forty-three 
commitments in 1827-28 — one hundred and thirty-eight from the 
police court and five from the municipal court, forty of whom were 
of the age of ten years and under, there being one of the age of six 
years, and six of the age of seven years only ; and there being in 
the whole number but eight over the age of fifteen. 



10 

Are not these statements sufficient to satisfy us that it is no mat- 
ter of merely imaginary inconvenience for which our sympathies 
are invoked, but one in which we have a deep interest as members 
of the community : and are not all of us, whose circumstances have 
been more fortunate, and who have had our infancy watched with 
affection and care, called upon by the strongest possible considera- 
tions to aid in rescuing from destruction the class to which I have 
been referring. 

It may, perhaps, occur to some, that the charities of society have 
already been exerted in this behalf, and to a sufficient extent ; and 
that the infant school, the Sunday school, the orphan asylum, the 
common free schools, all tend to diminish the evils complained of, 
and will ultimately cause them to disappear altogether. Such, how- 
ever, is far from being the case. That all of the institutions which 
have been mentioned are most praiseworthy and valuable, and that, 
incidentally, they may ameliorate the class of which I am speaking, 
there can be no doubt. But they do so only incidentally. Their 
immediate object is not the same with that proposed by the manual 
labour school ; and even if it were the same, the means employed 
are insufficient to accomplish it. 

The infant school is intended to provide a place at which the 
infant children of the labouring poor may be safely kept, while their 
parents are engaged during the day in out-of-door toil, or when their 
avocations at home do not permit their looking after them ; and the 
class of children received includes the infant that can scarcely talk, 
and both sexes. 

The Sunday school exercises its direct influence but one day out 
of the seven, and although I am inclined to believe that, in the 
aggregate, it has done as much good as any human institution, and 
I consider the founder of the system as the benefactor of his race, 
yet it wants that uninterrupted influence which is essential for the 
accomplishment of the object more particularly in view. 

The orphan asylums are generally devoted to the care of females, 
at least in this country ; and the free schools require, commonly, a 
decency of apparel which, cost little as it may, is still in most 
cases too expensive to be within the reach of the children for whose 
benefit the manual labour school is principally intended. Besides, 
the free schools are designed rather for the literary than the moral 
education of the scholars; and in the intervals of study, in the hours 
of play, the children are left without the constant supervision which 
is essential to the eradication of bad habits, if already existing, or to 
prevent their being acquired. 



11 

It must be apparent then, that the field for benevolent action for 
which the manual labour school is intended has not yet been occu- 
pied, that it is a most interesting one, and that the means proposed 
for improving it are worthy of favourable consideration and support. 

To carry out the design of a manual labour school, it is proposed 
to purchase a farm in the vicinity of Baltimore, of sufficient size 
and in a healthy neighbourhood, and to erect upon it buildings suita- 
ble for the accommodation of the scholars, containing proper dormi- 
tories, eating rooms, school rooms and offices ; the whole to be under 
the immediate charge of a superintendent of fitting temper and 
knowledge, who will, in his turn, be controlled by a Board of Mana- 
gers in the city, to whom all applications for admission will be made, 
and who will have the general direction of the institution. Here the 
scholars, in the intervals of what are termed ordinarily school hours, 
though in fact they will at all times be under a course of instruction, 
will be required to perform such labour on the farm as may be suited 
to their years and strength, or at such trades as may be taught in the 
establishment, so that, at the expiration of their scholarship, they 
will be fitted to engage either in agricultural or mechanical pursuits, 
with the information necessary to enable them to win their way in 
the world and gain an honest livelihood. The object being to com- 
bine moral and intellectual culture with regular labour, it is almost 
unnecessary to add, that, while every effort will be made to prevent 
the institution from assuming a sectarian character, every attention 
will be paid to the religious education of the scholars. Thus, while 
the scholars will be educated at the expense of the public, they will 
be able to pay back a portion of the expense by their work, finding 
again, in their very toil, an ample compensation in the habits of indus- 
try and in the knowledge that they will derive from it. The convict 
in the penitentiary labours to support the institution that punishes him, 
as the agent of the law, and succeeds in doing so : with how much 
more zest, with what grateful feelings, should not the pupil of the 
manual labour school toil, not only to provide for his own support, 
but to perpetuate the blessings of an institution which has rescued 
him from the temptations of vice, and made him a useful member 
of society, ere yet he has become an offender against its laws. 

For some years past there has been a manual labour school in 
operation in the vicinity of Boston, the happy example of which has 
led to the present undertaking in the neighbourhood of our city. 
This school was opened in 1835, on an island in Boston harbour, con- 
taining about one hundred and twenty acres. The average number 
of pupils, in 1838, was one hundred and five, fifty-nine of whom 



12 

were between the ages of eight and thirteen, and the remainder be- 
tween thirteen and eighteen. The whole number that had been 
received in three years was one hundred and fifty-five, thirty of 
whom had been bound out to farmers and mechanics, whose ac- 
counts of their conduct and industry had been highly satisfactory. 
Most of the labour required for the support of the establishment was 
done by the scholars ; — as for instance, all the tailoring and shoe- 
making was done by them, with the assistance of a master-workman 
to cut out. The produce of the farm had amounted to forty-five 
hundred dollars in one year, almost the whole of which was produced 
by the labour of the boys. Three thousand dollars worth of this was 
consumed on the premises, and the rest sold. The applications for 
admission into the school were far more numerous than could be 
gratified ; and, in many instances, parents had offered to pay, that 
their children might be admitted to participate in the benefit of the 
institution. In fine, all the anticipations of the founders of the school 
had been more than realized ; and it was anticipated, that in a few 
years it would able to support itself without aid from the public in 
the way of annual contributions. 

The plan, therefore, that is now suggested, is not a new one. It 
does not present itself as an experiment of doubtful results. It is a 
well tested scheme for saving from degradation and crime a large 
class of unfortunate beings, who, careless, because ignorant, of the 
perils of their situation, are hastening with rapid steps to inevitable 
destruction. We may have little sympathy for grown men, who sin 
against knowledge, whose crimes are the results of deliberation, or the 
consequences of ill-restrained passions. But when we see little chil- 
dren, — boys of tender years, — without natural protectors, or aban- 
doned by them, — or when not abandoned, exposed, as a consequence 
of the very relation of parent and child, to the influence of the 
worst examples, — in cases like these, there is certainly the strongest 
appeal made to the best feelings of our nature ; and in contributing 
to ameliorate their condition, we are but paying, I repeat, the debt 
that our own more fortunate lot has imposed upon every one of us* 

Among the most useful institutions of a comparatively late date is 
the house of refuge for juvenile delinquents, where youthful offen- 
ders against the laws are punished by confinement and labour, ac- 
companied by moral and religious instruction. The house of refuge 
has accomplished the great desideratum of separating the child in 
vice from the deep-dyed criminal of mature years, and has abated 
'the enormous evil of juvenile punishment without reformation/ 
Formerly the prison-house was, to the youthful delinquent, the uni- 



13 

versity of sin, where he received all the degrees of depravity, after 
he had prowled through his preliminary education in wickedness in 
the schools afforded by the streets, and their associations, of a large 
community. Punishment, then, instead of amending its object, gave 
him a more eager desire for the deeds that merited it, and a readier 
skill in evading it. The house of refuge changes all this, wherever 
it is established, and no large city should be without it. Still, how- 
ever, it is a penitentiary. No one enters it who has not offended 
against the laws: no one leaves it without feeling that his having 
been there may be cast up to him at some future period, when a life 
of industry and good conduct shall have made the reproach ungener- 
ous and unjust. The object of the institution of which I am the 
advocate is to anticipate the commission of crime. The house of 
refuge is intended to punish it, after it is committed. Against the 
success of the scholar of the manual labour school in after life, there 
is nothing with which the memory of the past can interfere. The 
poverty which placed him in it, instead of being a reproach, is 
remembered with honest pride, when he reflects in his prosperity, 
that he has been the architect of his own fortunes. But the inmate 
of the house of refuge, let his after fate be what it may, is haunted 
by a busy conscience reminding him that he has been a criminal. 

These remarks are not made, of course, with any view to depre- 
ciate an institution which is in every respect so valuable as the 
house of refuge ; but for the purpose of drawing a clear line of dis- 
tinction between it and the manual labour school, so as to prevent 
the plan which aims at the prevention of crime among the young, 
from being confounded with one that has been adopted for its 
punishment. This, I trust, has been sufficiently done ; and I hope, 
likewise, that I have been able so to distinguish the manual labour 
school from other and somewhat similar institutions, as to place it 
in a position to secure for it approbation and support. Should it 
succeed through our aid, a great good will have been accomplished. 
That it will succeed, I cannot for a moment persuade myself to 
doubt. All that is necessary is to establish it, even on the smallest 
scale, when it will be found to contain within itself the elements 
of its increase and prosperity. To us, remotely, may the future 
statesman owe his power and influence. To us, may the mecha- 
nician of a later day be indebted for the knowledge, whose results 
shall be yet undreamed-of additions to human comfort and conve- 
nience. To us, may science render thanks for contributions to her 
stores surpassing the hitherto accumulated treasures of centuries of 
painful toil. By us, may the fomenters of broils and discord, the 
3 



14 

contemners of all that is good and great and beautiful, the assassin, 
the burglar and the thief, be turned from the evil of their ways, and 
come to be looked upon as the friends and benefactors of their kind. 
To mere mortal vision, accident often appears to determine the 
destinies of existence : and to illustrate this idea was invented the 
fable of the drop of water, which, falling from the clouds into the 
vast expanse of the Indian ocean, was supposed to have moralized 
upon the annihilation of its identity that would follow its absorption 
into that world of waters. But the humble and tiny drop, so runs 
the fable, turned by a zephyr from its course, fell, by accident, into 
the mouth of a pearl oyster, and formed in the animal the nucleus 
of that glorious gem, which, plucked by the diver from the deep, 
became in time the proudest ornament that shone in the Byzantine 
diadem. And so it is with the countless throng of children, that 
year after year are to be found in all large communities. Their fate 
may be equally the result of accident. A kind word, — a look of 
approbation even, — though the word is forgotten, and the momentary 
glance may have faded from the memory, have been the causes to 
which may be traced the usefulness, happiness and prosperity of a 
life that otherwise might have been passed in sin and crime, and at 
last have been absorbed into the ocean of eternity without leaving a 
sign by which its identity might be recognized. That we should 
wilfully leave that to accident, which effort on our part might render 
certain, is surely a reproach to an age which boasts the knowledge, 
the opportunities and the means of the present ; and to do their duty 
in this respect, to direct the drop of water aright, as it falls into the 
ocean of society, so that the moral agent of which it is the type 
may become { a pearl of great price,' is the object of all those institu- 
tions, which, like the infant school, the Sunday school, the free 
school, and, most especially, the institution that is now commended 
to your favour, address themselves to the improvement of those who, 
deprived in their tender years of the advantages of fortune and posi- 
tion in society, are helpless to direct their own course, and are de- 
pendent upon the aid they may receive from the more favoured of 
their fellow beings. 

Among the mountains of Vermont, on the thoroughfare of travel 
between Burlington and Windsor, and high above the level of the 
distant sea, there swells up a quiet fountain of pure and wholesome 
water, which spreads out into a spot of moist and verdant ground 
near to the road side. From this spot, the declivity of the hill 
slopes gently to the east and west ; and the waters of the fountain, 
as accident may determine, divide and take opposite courses. The 



15 

portion that flows to the east, gaining strength as it goes, passes 
through a fair and fertile country, until it reaches the calm Connec- 
ticut, which bears it to the broad and sunny sound, that, in its turn, 
conveys it to the ocean, past the busy and crowded port of the chief 
city of our land, where the tall spire of the christian temple points 
upwards to the heavens, and where each returning Sabbath is marked 
by the observances of a christian people. The portion of the waters 
of the fountain, that accident has turned westward, also passes in its 
way scenes of smiling fertility ; but the greater part of its course is 
through a bleak and inhospitable region, and when it reaches the sea, 
it is in the world of the ice-berg, where the wild fowl are the sole 
inhabitants of the iron-bound shores, whose shrill discordant cries, as 
they whirl round their barren homes, are the only moan that is made 
for the wintry shipwrecks and death of which they are the witnesses. 
The destinies of the waters of this fountain may, without much 
stretch of the imagination, be compared to the destinies of the class 
of our community, which has, on this occasion, been especially the 
object of my remarks. It is not worth the while, or else all the wa- 
ters of the fountain might, at small cost and slight trouble, be turned 
into the brighter channel. A trifling barrier, a few shovel-fulls of 
earth, would accomplish the purpose ; and however the cold and 
angry ocean, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, might be supplied 
from other sources, still, each of the drops of this particular fountain 
might be made to sparkle under a sunny sky. But can we say this 
trouble is not necessary in the case of those for whom I have used 
the fountain as a representative. Compared with the results to be 
produced, the labour is as small, the cost as immaterial, in the one 
case as in the other: but in the one case, the question is only as 
regards the fate of a few drops of water, which the sun at last evapo- 
rates, but to restore, in some different spot, to the earth from which 
it came ; in the other case, the question is as regards that etherial 
essence, which when freed from its 'mortal admixture of earth's 
mould,' passes forever from its house of clay to one 'not made by 
hands, eternal in the heavens.' 



TO THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE. 

We live in an age which has been most appropriately called the 
age of benevolence. At no previous period in the history of man, 
has there been a more abundant manifestation of the spirit of good 
will, and active exertion to improve the moral and physical condi- 
tion of the human race. But while this exists in a great degree 
throughout our country, it is most remarkably evident at the present 
time in this community. The most careless observer cannot fail to 
have noticed that this city has been, for the last few months, under a 
most remarkable influence, which has stirred up the whole mass of 
society to its very foundation. This effect has not proceeded from 
the disposition to enterprize, or political influence, which exert so 
great control over the public mind in this country, but is the result 
we truly believe of the spirit of peace and good will to mankind : 
the outpouring of the influence from on high, and its mighty power 
over the hearts and actions of men. 

The effect on society has been most astonishing in arousing a 
general desire to do good. The benevolent institutions of the city 
have received a new impulse ; but not contented with those formerly 
established, active benevolence seeks to gratify its noble ambition in 
enterprizes as yet unknown in this community. One of the objects 
which has engaged the attention, is that for which we now solicit the 
careful examination of the public, feeling well assured that its objects 
are so noble and important that all must approve and aid the effort. 

A few gentlemen of this city, believing that the condition of the 
indigent boys called loudly for the care of the public, conceived the 
plan of establishing a farm-school, or asylum for such persons. They 
believed that no one could pass along the street without noticing 
assemblages of boys who are trained up in the way they should not 
go, and who when they become old will not depart from it. The 
evil was apparent, and the need of a remedy just as evident. The 
experience of other places were appealed to, and the present effort 
is the result. 

The plan contemplated is to obtain a suitable farm in the neigh- 
bourhood, where the boys can be far enough removed to be out of 



17 

the influence of the city. That they shall be supported, educated, 
and trained up in the habits of industry, so as to make them useful 
citizens. The general plan may be more correctly estimated from 
the following extract from a law just passed the general assembly of 
Maryland. Vide sees. 5th and 6th. 

'Sec. 5. And be it enacted, That the board of directors, of whom 
five shall be a quorum, for the transaction of business, for the time 
being, shall have the entire control and the direction of the concerns 
of the corporation, shall have the appointment of all the subordinate 
officers of the institution, and shall have the management of all the 
donations, subscription, funds, and the state thereof, to be managed 
and appropriated for relieving, instructing, and supporting indigent 
boys ; (and the said corporation shall have power to admit in their 
institution any indigent boy of the city of Baltimore or its vicinity 
above the age of five years, at the request or permission of his parent 
or guardian, and to accept from his father, or in case his father be 
not living, from his mother or guardian, a surrender in writing, of 
any such boy to the care and direction of said corporation, and they 
may take into their institution any other indigent boys residing in 
the city of Baltimore, who have no parent or guardian within the 
state, and all boys so admitted shall be maintained and employed in 
said institution, and shall be instructed in moral and religious duties, 
and the learning usually taught in common English schools, and each 
boy so admitted into said institution, so soon as he shall be able to 
read, shall be furnished with a copy of the Holy Scriptures in the 
English language, and each and every such boy shall have the privi- 
lege of reading said Scriptures at all suitable times ; and when of 
suitable age, they shall be employed in a regular course of labour, 
and be instructed in agriculture or such other useful occupation, so 
that they may be prepared to earn their own livelihood. 

'Sec. 6. And be it enacted, That the said corporation shall have 
power and authority to retain, and employ such boys on their farm 
after they are of a suitable age to be bound, and until the age of 
twenty-one years, or they may bind out such boys, when of suitable 
age in virtuous families, or as apprentices to any regular trade or 
reputable occupation until the age of twenty-one years, any thing in 
any law of this state to the contrary notwithstanding ; provided, that 
any such boy who shall not have been surrendered to said corpora- 
tion in the manner herein provided may be withdrawn from the 
institution or the person to whom he is bound, by his parent or 
guardian, upon payment to said corporation of the expenses incurred 
by them in the relief, support and instruction of such boys; and 



18 

provided further, that nothing in this act contained, shall prevent 
the said board of' directors from dismissing any boy from the institu- 
tion, whenever they think the welfare of the institution will be pro- 
moted thereby.' 

From these extracts a correct idea may be formed of the plan and 
objects of the proposed institution. The question now comes before 
all who desire to be guided by the dictates of duty. 

Will this institution be of advantage to the public good, and in 
what way ? It is believed unnecessary to occupy much time in set- 
ting forth the great benefits which have attended such institutions in 
other cities, and which must attend it in our own. A few thoughts 
will be submitted for the calm consideration of reflecting men. 

It was the reply of an American sage, when taunted with the 
question, 'what is the value of a child ? ' 'It may become a man.' 
Who, that in walking along the streets, can fail to notice the great 
number of boys who are forming habits which eventually lead to 
crime. The great enemy of the race is busily employed in sowing 
the tares in the virgin soil, and while he 'sows the wind society 
will indeed reap the whirlwind.' 

These young beings are ignorant of the inevitable tendency of 
their course ; they are like lambs led to the slaughter, and shall 
society while standing upon the high ground of observation, and 
knows well that these habits lead to poverty and disgrace, fold its 
arms and let them rush to the dark abyss of moral, and often tempo- 
ral death, without raising a warning voice, without making an effort 
to rescue them from ruin. If we should act so unkindly, will not 
their blood be upon our heads, will it not cry for vengeance to the 
Great Parent of the universe? Will he not demand at our hands 
where is our brother? How noble and imperishable are the results 
contemplated by this institution. To rescue young immortals from 
the downward path to ruin. To clothe, to feed, to educate, to prepare 
for a respectable and honourable station in society. To raise up per- 
haps, the future statesmen and legislators of the country, philanthro- 
pists and respectable fathers of families; more than all, to train a 
soul for its high birthright in eternity. 

We believe that every man who loves his species, must open his 
heart and cheerfully contribute of his abundance as God has given 
him, to the support of such noble institutions. But unfortunately, we 
have often to address a different class of persons, who feeling hedged 
in by prosperity, become callous to the dangers and the trials of their 
fellow-creatures, who say our children can be educated, clothed, 
fed and fare sumptuously every day ; there is no danger of their 



19 

falling victims to vice and want, therefore, what possible interest 
can we have in such an institution ; let every man take care of his 
own children ; charity begins at home. Not so ; God for the wisest 
purposes has bound the whole human race by the great chain of 
mutual interest and common good. 

Mankind are but beginning to awake to their true interests, and to 
see 'as through a glass darkly' the great and mighty truth, that what- 
ever affects the general welfare, must influence individual happiness. 

The great law which God gave to unite society, is the principle of 
love, which is as mighty in the moral world as the law which regu- 
lates the planetary system, is in the physical. 

We believe that proper consideration of the subject will prove that 
all the misery, the ruin, the bloodshed, the contentions, and the 
sorrows of the human race, from the first transgression by Cain in 
slaying righteous Abel, up to the present moment, has arisen from 
breaking this law. Let it then be assumed as a truth, that whatever 
promotes the good of others must be promotive of our own. But lest 
this may be considered too sublimated a mode of reasoning, let us 
bring the argument to a closer application to the actual state of things, 
the every day occurrences of human life. Let us regard the conside- 
rations of safety of life and property. Whence originates all the hor- 
rid crimes which alarm and shock society ? whence is the host that 
fill the prisons recruited ? who lights the incendiary torch, or swell 
the awful shout of the infuriated mob ? A close observer of society 
has told us that this class, who will form the objects of the proposed 
institution, are the principal source of these enemies of the com- 
munity ; that the immense river, black with crime and death, which 
rolls on its desolating current, is made up and swelled to its size by 
the little clear and pure rivulets which trickles from these fountains. 

But let us come nearer and touch the very heart-strings of the 
parent who still closes his ears against the appeals we are now 
making. You love your children as your very heart's blood, you 
would shrink back with horror from their approach to a fellow-crea- 
ture infected with a contagious disease, you warn them against the 
rabid animal, the poisonous serpent, or the deadly tiger ; and yet you 
are blind and careless, to the danger of their coming in contact with 
those infected with moral disease, destructive of the soul, and far 
more to be dreaded than the serpent or the tiger. In the present 
condition of society how is it to be avoided. Are not the young 
drawn forcibly to each other by the strong principle of sympathy 
which beats in their hearts, yet unchilled by the knowledge of 
the selfishness of the world ? Do they not seek each other's society, 



i_j.Dr\Hr\! UP ^UlNUKtbb 



20 illlllllliilll 

029 982 679 
and are they not very often led to imitate those practices they see in 
others, and exposed to great danger, while the moral principle is as 
yet weak, and when the care of the parent is absent from them, 
which is at that tender age the substitute for the restraining principle. 
At every corner of the street, at every lane or alley will be found 
those, who, young in age but old in sin, are the willing teachers of 
others. It is true that this is a selfish argument, but it is one of 
resistless force to every parent who feels proper anxiety for the moral 
welfare of his child. 

That this is a most important subject, that some remedy is needed 
is admitted by the universal voice of the community. The time has 
now come for every good citizen, every parent and every christian 
to unite their energies to the accomplishment of so noble an under- 
taking. The signs are most encouraging, the press has for months 
raised its mighty voice in its favour, the reverend clergy, the vene- 
rable fathers of the city, the men of wealth and philanthropy, all 
unite in recommending it. And it requires but united effort to give 
the institution complete and permanent success. 






flNUIIWNII v 

029 982 679 A 



